Southern Route: Lerik

Population of the district: 67,400; the district centre, the town of Lerik: 6,900.

LERIK DISTRICT is one of the most beautiful corners of Azerbaijan, set high in the TALISH mountains. Magnificent nature, clean mountain air filled with the scent of the forest, springs, rivers, fertile soil: it is no accident that this land is famous for its long-livers. Summer air temperatures rarely exceed +25 °C, but heavy autumn rains sometimes make the roads impassable and some villages hard to reach. In certain especially remote corners of the Lerik forests lives the leopard, now protected under a special programme.

There are opportunities here for hunting wild boar, fox, hare and birds (ducks, partridges). The highest peaks of the Talish Mountains are KOMURGOY (2492 m) and GIZYURDU (2433 m).

The history of this land is highly distinctive and reflects some of the most fascinating moments in the complex history of the whole country. Many cultural and historical monuments have survived in Lerik District, showing that these places were already inhabited in Neolithic times. For example, a Stone Age cave site, and the ancient settlement of "GIZ YURDU" near the mountain village of MISTAN at an altitude of about 2430 m.

Mausoleums: BABA HASAN near the village of JONU, BABA ISA in the village of MONDIGAH, KHOJA SEYID in the village of KHANAGAH (14th c.), PIR YUSIF near the village of KEKONU, JABIR (12th-14th cc.) and KHALIFA ZAKARIYYA on the road to the village of JANGAMIRAN, where, by the way, even ancient and simply old trees are protected and revered by the locals. This village was once visited by Alexandre Dumas, who described the heroic fate of a woman from this village in one of his works.

In the village of LULAKARAN an original 19th-century mosque has survived. The numerous stone ram statues preserved in many villages also deserve a mention.

We have already mentioned that the district is famous for its long-livers. SHIRALI MUSLUMOV, for example, lived 163 years of active life (1812-1975), setting a world record; MAHMUD EYVAZOV lived 150 years (1808-1958). Dozens of long-livers who have passed the hundred-year mark while still able to work live here even now.

Among the folk crafts developed here are carpet weaving, the making of various household items from wood, and pottery. A peculiarity of local carpet weaving is that carpets are woven not on a vertical loom but on a horizontal one laid out right on the floor.

THE TOWN OF LERIK is the administrative centre of Lerik District. Distance from Baku: 325 km. The town lies at the foot of the mountains, on a fertile plain. Here you can visit the Museum of Local History and see the memorial erected in memory of the victims of the Garabagh war.

You can stay in rooms rented from local residents, as well as at the many holiday resorts along the road from Lankaran to Lerik...